Glenn Beck - The Eye of Moloch

He left the stage and walked up the aisle toward the path to the cabin, carried along by a swelling chorus of boos and hisses from the crowd that somehow felt better to him than any standing ovation ever could.

Chapter 46

Virginia Ward caught sight of Noah as he was coming back up the trail from the memorial gathering.

She’d arrived much later than expected, but having finally found this strange place, she’d been watching and listening to the distant proceedings for the last few minutes. She waved as he got closer and he picked up his pace when he saw her and began to jog the rest of the way.

The after-funeral fireworks show had begun just a minute or so after Noah had finished his bold little speech. Judging by the upswing in the revelry among the high-born assembly down there, any impact of his parting words had been short-lived at best.

For what it was worth, though, even at this distance she could tell that he’d succeeded in convincing at least one person down there: he’d convinced himself. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Noah Gardner believed every word that he’d just spoken.

“Hi,” he said, as he came near. “I didn’t expect to see you until I got back to Colorado. What is it, do you have some news?”

“Nothing solid, I’m afraid. I found the place where I think Molly and her group were hiding out—”

“So did you bring her in?”

“No. Somebody else found her first. I got there after the fighting was done and there wasn’t much of anything left.”

“After the fighting.” He swallowed hard. “So I guess it’s true, then.”

“What’s true?”

“A man down there told me she was dead.”

“By any chance was that man Warren Landers?”

“No. It was an old scoundrel named Aaron Doyle. Same DNA as Landers, only several rungs higher up the ladder of the damned.”

“Aaron Doyle,” she said, frowning. “Kind of a recluse, and he’s big in finance, am I right?”

“Finance, currency manipulation, warmongering, genocide—turns out he’s big in a lot of things.”

“And he talked to you about Molly? Why would someone like that even know her name?”

“Because like any other cockroach, he’s scared of the light.”

“Interesting.” They stood at a crossroads and she pointed toward the uphill trail. “Are you staying up this way?”

“Yeah.”

“Walk with me.” As they started off she briefly scanned their surroundings; there was a vague feeling that they weren’t alone. In the late dusk she could see nothing of any concern, but the occasional booming flashes of the pyrotechnics overhead made her eyes reluctant to adjust to the dark. “You know, I’ve got a clearance that can get me into any room in the Pentagon, but these uppity bastards wouldn’t even let me go beyond that corner back there.”

He only nodded, and appeared to be engrossed in concerns of his own.

“I don’t think it’s true, Noah,” Virginia said quietly. “I think Molly got away.”

He stopped. “What?”

“Keep walking. I said I think—”

“You think she got away, or you know?”

“I don’t know anything yet, but I wouldn’t bring it up if I wasn’t fairly sure.”

He sighed, and showed a little relief as they moved along. “That’s good to hear.”

“When the news reported that your father had passed away I even thought there was a slim chance that she might learn of your furlough and be coming here to find you. But you still haven’t gotten any messages from her, have you?”

“No, and I hope I don’t. Why would she risk coming here?”

“I’ve got a theory about what she could be planning to do. It was something you said the other night, and if I’m right she might even try to get your help.”

“Well, I hope she stays away. Whatever’s about to happen to me I don’t want her to get anywhere close to it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

They were almost at the cabin steps, and he stopped and turned to her.

“Mr. Doyle made it pretty clear just now that my number’s up. I think it was only my father’s influence that kept me around this long, for whatever his reasons were. And what’s left of my father’s influence is sitting down there in an oversized pepper shaker right now. So I hope Molly doesn’t come near me, and it’s about time you walked away from all this, too.”

She studied him for a few seconds. “That’s not like me.”

“It’s for the best.”

“Okay, that’s your idea,” Virginia said. “Now here’s mine. I’ve been in touch with your family attorney, Mr. Nelan. Since you’re the only remaining member of the family you’ve become his top priority, and he seems sure that he can get you freed very quickly.”

“Really.”

“Really. So for tonight, I’ll call up some old friends. These are four guys stationed downstate at Coronado, and they’re not just badasses, Noah, they train badasses. I’ll watch your back until they arrive, and then we’ll deal with your escorts and walk you out of here.”

He didn’t take long to think about his alternatives. “I like your idea better than mine.”

“Good.”

“And we’re taking the people I’ve got with me, too.”

“Of course we are.”

“It’s that easy?”

“I doubt it will be.” She flicked the retaining strap of the holster at her side and made sure the weapon there was ready beneath the cover of her light jacket. “But cross your fingers.”

They walked up the steps and he opened the door to the cabin. Despite all her experience, Virginia was frozen for a fateful instant by what she saw inside.

Two young women and an elderly man were huddled in the far corner. Four men in uniform were bound and gagged on the floor against the opposite wall. And there, in the middle of the room, with his pistol leveled at her chest, stood Thom Hollis.

“Down!” Hollis yelled, shifting his aim beyond and charging forward. She’d barely begun to react when gunfire erupted and she was struck from behind by the blunt burning impacts on her way down to the floor. She felt herself being dragged inside, saw Thom Hollis returning fire as he knelt between her and the door, protecting her, and then she watched him charge outside in pursuit of the attackers.

As consciousness drained from her she managed to clear her .45 from its holster, and with the very last of her strength, she grabbed Noah’s arm and put her gun firmly into his hand.

Chapter 47

When Hollis came back through the door he had blood on his clothes and two more firearms than he’d left with. Some of the blood was his; he’d clearly been wounded at least once, though how seriously Noah couldn’t tell.

If they were lucky there might be time for explanations later on but this wasn’t the moment. Virginia was shot and still lying immobile and Ellen Davenport had begun to tend to her with the barest of medicine-cabinet resources at hand. But they had to move, and quickly. The gunfire might have been lost in the sound of the fireworks but that was no guarantee that a general alarm hadn’t already been raised. The two failed assassins Hollis had run down and taken out wouldn’t be the end of their troubles if they stayed where they were much longer.

“Wait,” Noah said. He sat and pulled up the cuff of his slacks to show his house-arrest bracelet. “Three of us are wearing these damned things. We have to get them off or they’ll find us before we get a mile away.”